Cursed to Lose
by Orpah
Summary: What would have happened if Hinata had activated Neji's curse seal during the match?
1. Chapter 1

Still sooo tired, so I thought I would continue writing, I guess.

I don't own Naruto!

This match was over. Neji could easily see that Hinata was finished. Her chakra network was closed off, and she was coughing up blood by the handful. He had so obviously already won, and yet she kept coming back. He shook his head.

"Give up, Hinata. There is no shame in accepting your fate as a loser." He didn't necessarily mean to sound imperious and mean, it was simply how it was. Hinata, however, gave a slow shake of her head, much to his irritation.

"No, I am not a loser, and fate isn't set in stone," she said with a rasping breath, feeling more confident as she said the words and Naruto cheered her on. Neji sighed, sounding mildly impatient with her. "Hinata, that's what fate is. The moment I was chosen as your opponent, your fate was sealed. You have no chance of winning. For the first time, the branch house shall win."

Hinata felt a surge of fear as she thought of her father's reaction to Neji beating her. He would not like it one bit, and she and Neji would both get into trouble, most likely. Didn't he realize that? The elders would be furious at him showing up a main family member in this way, especially the heiress...

She had to win, not just because Naruto was watching either. Surely, it would be better for Neji this way as well...

Neji was watching her suspiciously as she seemed to squirm and ponder something. Maybe she would finally give up after all, she did seem to be losing the little argument she was having with herself.

She took a deep breath, and told herself it wouldn't hurt that much, that she'd seen it happen before.

She looked over guiltily at Neji, her hands forming a handsign. Neji's eyes widened with shock, and accusation, before he fell to the floor with a scream, shaking on the floor like someone having a seizure.

All the spectators watched with shock and alarm, some of them even shouting in surprise. "What'd she do?!" Naruto shouted, while Sakura looked over the railing in surprise. Lee shook his head vigorously. "I do not know!"

Hinata released the seal quickly, starting to feel sick as she watched Neji curl up into a ball and hold his head with a whimper. Gai immediately jumped over the railing, going down and prying off Neji's forehead protector. He quickly lifted Neji bridal style, while Lee jumped down and ran over.

"What's going on, Gai-sensei?!" Lee asked, trying to look at Neji and figure out what was wrong with him. Gai sighed, turning to take Neji out of the arena. "I'll explain it to you in the other room, Lee."

"It looks like she hurt his head!" Sakura deduced, pointing at Neji, who was still holding his head. He whimpered at her loud, piercing shout. Gai gestured to Lee to stay with Naruto and Sakura, and then turned to leave, but not before glancing back with a disappointed look at Hinata.

She looked so guilt stricken, as Hayate announced her the winner of the match. She immediately ran after Gai, and Kurenai followed with Shino.

Naruto, of course, got up and followed as well, and Kakashi sighed and put away his book to make sure Naruto did not get himself in trouble.

Gai entered a quiet room that was often used for recovery during the chunin exams. He lay Neji down on his back on a bed in there, and then went to get a wet rag. Hinata entered the room quietly, looking at Neji with shame.

"Is... Is he going to be... Okay?" She asked Gai quietly as he put the rag on Neji's forehead. Hinata winced as it sizzled. Gai looked over at her, an indecipherable emotion in his eyes. "I do not know. This has only happened once before."

Hinata's eyes widened, and Kurenai came into the room along with Shino, who stayed near the doorway. Kurenai put a hand on Hinata's shoulder comfortingly. Neji cried out suddenly as Kurenai had started to speak, and Gai immediately replaced the warm rag with a new one.

"This wasn't how it's supposed to work," Hinata whispered under her breath, just as Naruto came into the room. "Wasn't how what was supposed to work?!" he demanded loudly, causing Neji to whimper again, his hands shooting up to grasp his head and knock off the rag.

Gai shot Naruto a look. "Naruto, it may be hard to restrain your youthful curiousity, but please try to keep your voice down!" Naruto scratched the back of his head in embarassment. "Sorry. Wasn't how what was supposed to work, Hinata?"

Hinata watched Gai replacing the rag, refusing to look Naruto, her idol, in the eyes. Kakashi, who had entered the room subtly, sighed. "She's talking about the Hyuuga cursed seal, Naruto," he said, wondering why everything seemed to be about cursed seals lately.

"What's that?" Naruto asked, looking somewhat surprised still.

Kakashi sighed again. "You remember what Lee said about bad blood between the houses?" Naruto nodded impatiently. "Yeah, yeah, what about it?"

"The main house gave a cursed seal to the branch houses in order to keep them under control. Only a main family member can activate the seal, which is permanently placed on the branch family member's forehead. Hinata activated Neji's during their match, incapicitating him."

Naruto looked stunned at Kakashi's brief explanation, looking first at Neji, who seemed to be in his own painful little world, and then at Hinata, who looked incredibly guilty.

"What? Hinata, how could you do that?" Naruto said disbelievingly, while Hinata looked even more ashamed. She immediately tried to explain. "It's not like that, I didn't know it would react so badly, I didn't know! He w-would have g-gotten in s-such trouble for d-defeating me, a-and I'd get into t-tr-trouble too..."

"Huh? That doesn't make any sense," Naruto said, scratching his head.

Hinata's lip almost trembled as she explained. "I'm main family, he's branch. H-he would g-get in a l-lot of trouble for d-defeating me, an-and I w-would get i-in-into trouble f-for letting h-him beat m-me."

"But that's not fair!" Naruto almost shouted, causing Neji to gasp in pain. Gai gave him a severe look. "Be quiet!"

"I-I know..." Hinata whispered in response to Naruto's shout.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that little story! I like Neji and Hinata, so I thought this would make a good oneshot! If you want me to continue with this, please review!


	2. Chapter 2

What's writ in stone is writ,

And nothing, Heaven or Hell,

Can change its course or alter it.

It's like Neji's thoughts in poem form! Cool, no? But anyway, I'm sorry this took so long to update... I haven't really been into Naruto lately, but suddenly I had the urge to update this story. So enjoy!

I don't own Naruto! end /AN/

Neji's eyes were screwed shut in pain, and his breaths were shallow. Gai was changing the rag, while Lee was looking over his shoulder in concern. He had not expected such a thing to happen to his eternal rival, and now felt bad that they wouldn't get to compete against each other.

"Neji, do you understand me?" Gai asked, face serious with the knowledge that Neji's brain could have been harmed. Hinata looked away as Neji let out a pained grunt of acknowledgement.

Naruto stared, unable to take his eyes off of the spectacle in front of him. Kakashi was reading his book again, seemingly barely paying attention to the scene in front of him. Gai began to stroke the side of Neji's head gently, as the prodigy continued to gasp in pain.

"Is he going to be alright?" Naruto asked, already forgetting that Hinata had asked that before. Gai turned his head to look back at Naruto sighing. "As I said before, this has only happened once; I don't know if he will be fine. But it is a good sign that he knows we're here."

Lee nodded solemnly, remembering the fateful day well. Neji had been late to practice, and Gai had said they should go find Neji at his house. They had been able to get into the Hyuuga compound, and get directions to Neji's room.

But when they got there, and knocked on the door, they'd only been answered with a moan. So Gai had forced open the door, and they'd discovered Neji curled up on his bed in pain. Tenten had learned from another Branch family member named Hanako that Neji had angered an elder, accidentally going too far with his disrespect for him. And after his curse seal had been activated, he'd been moved back to his room, and left there to recover on his own.

Gai had been appalled, and they had stayed the whole day, tending to Neji and doing whatever they supposed might help. He'd recovered mostly by the evening, with only a headache left. But he had not been himself in between.

And now, Gai could only hope that Hinata had not activated the curse seal longer than the elder had. Because if she had, it could make a difference of hours, or days, for all he knew.

"I-I... I think that maybe a healer would be able to help..." Hinata said timidly, not daring to speak above a whisper. Gai nodded slowly, lips pursed in thought. "You're right," he couldn't help but admit, "Lee, go get one of the healers, please."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee said, saluting him and darting off. Neji winced at the noise.

"It'll be fine," Gai said, still stroking Neji's hair, trying to keep him calm. Because the boy genius was anything but, with his eyes shut tight and his breathing rather rapid. He let out another moan as his head throbbed. Gai quickly changed the rag.

Hinata's lower lip shook at the moan, and she looked down at the floor once again. "I-I really am s-so s-sorry... But I-I... I had to do it!"

"Because of the main and branch family thing, right?" Naruto asked, looking like he was finally understanding what was going on. Hinata nodded mutely, arms folded in front of herself.

Gai frowned. He hated to admit it, but Hinata was right. There had been no other way out of the fight, other than Neji bowing out. And of course, Neji would never do that, his pride could not allow it. Gai could see the trap Hinata had been in.

"There was no other way out," he admitted, glancing down at Neji. Neji was not one to sacrifice his pride, but he'd had it ripped away from him anyway. He would probably be very moody when he came out of the effects of the curse seal.

"Well, why didn't Neji give up if he knew Hinata could use the curse seal?" Naruto asked, looking a little confused. Kakashi cut in then, with a simple explanation.

"It was a matter of pride, Naruto. Neji knew he could beat Hinata in a fair fight," Hinata winced at Kakashi's words, "so he felt as though he couldn't back down."

"Oh." Naruto gazed on the ninja before him, curled up in a fetal position, and wondered if it really had been worth it.

/AN/ Well, I hope you enjoyed it! If you liked it, please let me know! I might write more Naruto stories if I get enough interest!


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